Web & Computer Security, Vulnerability, Attack, etc.

justqdjing

“The New York Times (NYT) is an American daily newspaper, founded and continuously published in New York City since September 18, 1851, by the New York Times Company. It has won 114 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other news organization. The paper’s print version has the largest circulation of any metropolitan newspaper in the United States, and the second-largest circulation overall, behind The Wall Street Journal. It is ranked 39th in the world by circulation. Following industry trends, its weekday circulation has fallen to fewer than one million daily since 1990. Nicknamed for years as “The Gray Lady”, The New York Times is long regarded within the industry as a national “newspaper of record”. It is owned by The New York Times Company. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr., (whose family (Ochs-Sulzberger) has controlled the paper for five generations, since 1896), is both the paper’s publisher and the company’s chairman. Its international version, formerly the International Herald Tribune, is now called the International New York Times. The paper’s motto, “All the News That’s Fit to Print”, appears in the upper left-hand corner of the front page.” (Wikipedia)

(1) Vulnerability Description:

The New York Times has a computer cyber security problem. Hacker can exploit its users by XSS bugs.

The code program flaw occurs at New York Times’s URLs. Nytimes (short for New York Times) uses part of the URLs to construct its pages. However, it seems that Nytimes does not filter the content used for the construction at all before 2013.

Based on Nytimes’s Design, Almost all URLs before 2013 are affected (All pages of articles). In fact, all article pages that contain “PRINT” button, “SINGLE PAGE” button, “Page *” button, “NEXT PAGE” button are affected.

Nytimes changed this mechanism since 2013. It decodes the URLs sent to its server. This makes the mechanism much safer now.

However, all URLs before 2013 are still using the old mechanism. This means almost all article pages before 2013 are still vulnerable to XSS attacks. I guess the reason Nytimes does not filter URLs before is cost. It costs too much (money & human capital) to change the database of all posted articles before.

Cross-site scripting (XSS) is a type of computer security vulnerability typically found in Web applications. XSS enables attackers to inject client-side script into Web pages viewed by other users. A cross-site scripting vulnerability may be used by attackers to bypass access controls such as the same origin policy.

“Hackers are constantly experimenting with a wide repertoire of hacking techniques to compromise websites and web applications and make off with a treasure trove of sensitive data including credit card numbers, social security numbers and even medical records. Cross-site Scripting (also known as XSS or CSS) is generally believed to be one of the most common application layer hacking techniques Cross-site Scripting allows an attacker to embed malicious JavaScript, VBScript, ActiveX, HTML, or Flash into a vulnerable dynamic page to fool the user, executing the script on his machine in order to gather data. The use of XSS might compromise private information, manipulate or steal cookies, create requests that can be mistaken for those of a valid user, or execute malicious code on the end-user systems. The data is usually formatted as a hyperlink containing malicious content and which is distributed over any possible means on the internet.” (Acunetix)

The vulnerability can be attacked without user login. Tests were performed on Firefox (34.0) in Ubuntu (14.04) and IE (9.0.15) in Windows 8.

“6kbbs V8.0 is a PHP + MySQL built using high-performance forum, has the code simple, easy to use, powerful, fast and so on. It is an excellent community forum program. The program is simple but not simple; fast, small; Interface generous and good scalability; functional and practical pursuing superior performance, good interface, the user’s preferred utility functions.”

“1, using XHTML + CSS architecture, so that the structure of the page, saving transmission static page code, but also easy to modify the interface, more in line with WEB standards; 2, the Forum adopted Cookies, Session, Application and other technical data cache on the forum, reducing access to the database to improve the performance of the Forum. Can carry more users simultaneously access; 3, the data points table function, reduce the burden on the amount of data when accessing the database; 4, support for multi-skin style switching function; 5, the use of RSS technology to support subscriptions forum posts, recent posts, user’s posts; 6, the display frame mode + tablet mode, the user can choose according to their own preferences to; 7. forum page optimization keyword search, so the forum more easily indexed by search engines; 8, extension, for our friends to provide a forum for a broad expansion of space services; 9, webmasters can add different top and bottom of the ad, depending on the layout; 10, post using HTML + UBB way the two editors, mutual conversion, compatible with each other; …”

(2) Vulnerability Details:

6kbbs web application has a computer cyber security bug problem. It can be exploited by CSRF (Cross-Site Request Forgery) attacks. This may allow an attacker to trick the victim into clicking on the image to take advantage of the trust relationship between the authenticated victim and the application. Such an attack could trick the victim into creating files that may then be called via a separate CSRF attack or possibly other means, and executed in the context of their session with the application, without further prompting or verification.

Several 6kbbs products 0-day vulnerabilities have been found by some other bug hunter researchers before. 6kbbs has patched some of them. Open Sourced Vulnerability Database (OSVDB) is an independent and open-sourced database. The goal of the project is to provide accurate, detailed, current, and unbiased technical information on security vulnerabilities. The project promotes greater, open collaboration between companies and individuals. It has published suggestions, advisories, solutions details related to csrf vulnerabilities.

(2.1) The first code programming flaw occurs at “/portalchannel_ajax.php?” page with “&id” and &code” parameters in HTTP $POST.

(2.2) The second code programming flaw occurs at “/admin.php?” page with “&fileids” parameter in HTTP $POST.

NetCat.ru is russian local company. “NetCat designed to create an absolute majority of the types of sites: from simple “business card” with a minimum content to complex web-based systems, from corporate offices to online stores, libraries or media data – in other words, projects completely different directions and at any level of complexity. View examples of sites running on NetCat CMS can be in a special section.”

“Manage the site on the basis of NetCat can even inexperienced user, because it does not require knowledge of Internet technologies, programming and markup languages. NetCat constantly improving, adds new features. In the process of finalizing necessarily take into account the wishes of our partners and clients, as well as trends in Internet development. More than 2,000 studios and private web developers have chosen for their projects is NetCat, and in 2013 sites, successfully working on our CMS, created more than 18,000.”

(2) Vulnerability Details:

NetCat web application has a computer security bug problem. It can be exploited by HTML Injection attacks. Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) injection, also sometimes referred to as virtual defacement, is an attack on a user made possible by an injection vulnerability in a web application. When an application does not properly handle user supplied data, an attacker can supply valid HTML, typically via a parameter value, and inject their own content into the page. This attack is typically used in conjunction with some form of social engineering, as the attack is exploiting a code-based vulnerability and a user’s trust.

Several NetCat products 0-day vulnerabilities have been found by some other bug hunter researchers before. NetCat has patched some of them. Web Security Watch is an aggregator of security reports coming from various sources. It aims to provide a single point of tracking for all publicly disclosed security issues that matter. “Its unique tagging system enables you to see a relevant set of tags associated with each security alert for a quick overview of the affected products. What’s more, you can now subscribe to an RSS feed containing the specific tags that you are interested in – you will then only receive alerts related to those tags.” It has published suggestions, advisories, solutions details related to cyber security vulnerabilities.

“FC2 (founded July 20, 1999) is a popular Japanese blogging host, the third most popular video hosting service in Japan (after YouTube and Niconico), and a web hosting company headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is the sixth most popular website in Japan overall (as of January 2014). FC2 is an abbreviation of “Fantastic Kupi-Kupi (クピクピ)”. It is known to allow controversial adult content such as pornography and hate speech (unlike many of its competitors). The company uses rented office space for its headquarters which it shares with many other U.S.-based businesses. It also pays taxes in the United States. The physical servers are located in the United States. However, it is believed that the majority of the company and its users (including employees) are located within Japan” (Wikipedia)

The Alexa rank of fc2.com is 52 on February 18 2015. It is the toppest Japanese local website sevice.

(1) Vulnerability description:

FC2 has a computer cyber security bug problem. It is vulnerable to XSS attacks. Here is the description of XSS: “Hackers are constantly experimenting with a wide repertoire of hacking techniques to compromise websites and web applications and make off with a treasure trove of sensitive data including credit card numbers, social security numbers and even medical records. Cross-site Scripting (also known as XSS or CSS) is generally believed to be one of the most common application layer hacking techniques Cross-site Scripting allows an attacker to embed malicious JavaScript, VBScript, ActiveX, HTML, or Flash into a vulnerable dynamic page to fool the user, executing the script on his machine in order to gather data. The use of XSS might compromise private information, manipulate or steal cookies, create requests that can be mistaken for those of a valid user, or execute malicious code on the end-user systems. The data is usually formatted as a hyperlink containing malicious content and which is distributed over any possible means on the internet.” (Acunetix)

“Rakuten, Inc. (楽天株式会社 Rakuten Kabushiki-gaisha?) is a Japanese electronic commerce and Internet company based in Tokyo, Japan. Its B2B2C e-commerce platform Rakuten Ichiba is the largest e-commerce site in Japan and among the world’s largest by sales. Hiroshi Mikitani founded the company in February 1997 as MDM, Inc., and is still its chief executive. Rakuten Shopping Mall (楽天市場 Rakuten Ichiba?) started operations in May 1997. In June 1999, the company changed its name to Rakuten, Inc. The Japanese word rakuten means optimism. In 2012, the company’s revenues totaled US$4.6 billion with operating profits of about US$244 million. In June 2013, Rakuten, Inc. reported it had a total of 10,351 employees worldwide. In 2005, Rakuten started expanding outside Japan, mainly through acquisitions and joint ventures. Its acquisitions include Buy.com (now Rakuten.com Shopping in the US), Priceminister (France), Ikeda (now Rakuten Brasil), Tradoria (now Rakuten Deutschland), Play.com (UK), Wuaki.tv (Spain), and Kobo Inc. (Canada). The company has investments in Pinterest, Ozon.ru, AHA Life, and Daily Grommet.” (Wikipedia)

The Alexa rank of rakuten.co.jp is 64 on May 29 2015. It is the second toppest Japanese local sevice website.

(1) Vulnerability Description:

Rakuten online website has a computer cyber security bug problem. It can be exploited by Open Redirect (Unvalidated Redirects and Forwards) attacks. Here is the description of Open Redirect: “A web application accepts a user-controlled input that specifies a link to an external site, and uses that link in a Redirect. This simplifies phishing attacks. An http parameter may contain a URL value and could cause the web application to redirect the request to the specified URL. By modifying the URL value to a malicious site, an attacker may successfully launch a phishing scam and steal user credentials. Because the server name in the modified link is identical to the original site, phishing attempts have a more trustworthy appearance.” (From CWE)

“We are a premier provider of Internet-based solutions encompassing web site development and modular interactive e-government applications which bring local government, residents and community businesses together.

Cit-e-Net provides a suite of on-line interactive services to counties, municipalities, and other government agencies, that they in turn can offer to their constituents. The municipal government achieves a greater degree of efficiency and timeliness in conducting the daily operations of government, while residents receive improved and easier access to city hall through the on-line access to government services.

Our web-based applications can help your municipality to acheive its e-government goals. Type & click website content-management empowers the municipality to manage the website quickly and easily. Web page styles & formats are customizable by the municipality, and because the foundation is a database application, user security can be set for individual personnel and module applications. Our application modules can either be integrated into your existing municipal web site or implemented as a complete web site solution. It’s your choice! Please contact us at info@cit-e.net to view a demonstration of our municipal web site solution if you are an elected official or member of municipal management and your municipality is looking for a cost efficient method for enhancing & improving municipal services.

Interactive Applications

Online Service Requests

Online Tax Payments by ACH electronic-check or credit card.

Online Utility Payments by ACH electronic-check or credit card.

Online General-Payments by ACH electronic-check or credit card.

Submit Volunteer Resume’s Online for the municipality to match your skills with available openings.”

(2) Vulnerability Details:

Cit-e-Access web application has a security bug problem. It can be exploited by XSS attacks. This may allow a remote attacker to create a specially crafted request that would execute arbitrary script code in a user’s browser session within the trust relationship between their browser and the server.

Several similar products 0Day vulnerabilities have been found by some other bug hunter researchers before. Cit-i-Access has patched some of them. Open Sourced Vulnerability Database (OSVDB) is an independent and open-sourced database. The goal of the project is to provide accurate, detailed, current, and unbiased technical information on security vulnerabilities. The project promotes greater, open collaboration between companies and individuals. It has published suggestions, advisories, solutions details related to important vulnerabilities.

(2.1) The first programming code flaw occurs at “/eventscalendar/index.cfm?” page with “&DID” parameter in HTTP GET.

(2.2) The second programming code flaw occurs at “/search/index.cfm?” page with “&keyword” parameter in HTTP POST.

“Publish . Your content without any prior knowledge on the Internet Numerous integrated tools are available . Images, documents and movies can be provided with a click. We present yourself individually and professionally to your CI and your wishes . About a layout interface design can change at any time , or of course your own layout to be integrated. Our content management system is designed for search engine indexing . You can easily book your website for search engines like Google , Bing , Yahoo , … optimize ..”

“By running his own web server , you do not need a provider and need to install anything . Updates are performed automatically and for free . All you need is a PC with Internet access. SITE FACT is a proprietary development of Arvenia GmbH . Therefore, we can always realize your individual wishes and integrate them into SITE FACT. If you need our assistance , please contact our free support. With personal contact and landline number during the entire runtime.”

(2) Vulnerability Details:

SITEFACT web application has a computer cyber security bug problem. It can be exploited by XSS attacks. This may allow a remote attacker to create a specially crafted request that would execute arbitrary script code in a user’s browser session within the trust relationship between their browser and the server.

Several other similar products 0-day vulnerabilities have been found by some other bug hunter researchers before. SITEFACT has patched some of them. The Full Disclosure mailing list is a public forum for detailed discussion of vulnerabilities and exploitation techniques, as well as tools, papers, news, and events of interest to the community. FD differs from other security lists in its open nature and support for researchers’ right to decide how to disclose their own discovered bugs. The full disclosure movement has been credited with forcing vendors to better secure their products and to publicly acknowledge and fix flaws rather than hide them. Vendor legal intimidation and censorship attempts are not tolerated here! It also publishes suggestions, advisories, solutions details related to XSS vulnerabilities and cyber intelligence recommendations.